Busy days :)
The weekend was crammed full of things, so I didn't get around to reading or posting much - and the week is also looking pretty full-on - but yes! there's still time for self-indulgence and various cultural excitements. Not the terrific free lecture with excerpts and explanations of the puppetry of Bao Ha village, though - it was crammed full by the time we got there. But never mind, there was a very nice indeed new (to me) patisserie nearby (cue: tarte framboise and iced coffee) and I was also able to spend some time in a bookshop buying delayed birthday presents for a quasi-godchild plus bonus treat of a new big Vietnamese-English dictionary for me.
and later that night culture reigned! in that I continued the Season Eighteen Old Who project,and saw the story titled "Full Circle", with the introduction of the mysterious adric I've seen him in later episodes (notably the one with cricket in a country house mystery) but not till now known the origin of. Good story, with lots of interesting ideas (unexplored,mostly, but still). I loved the Marshmen's first appearance looming up out of the marsh, and enjoyed the (suppressed) debate about the usefulness/ethics of the Noble Lie (since I've not long finished The Just City - and also since all our governments are engaged in precisely that exercise all the time.) That was a bit undercut by there being so much else going on, in the ideas line:
In sum - great to meet adric, but I'd love to have seen the same plot done at length with extra thinking.
There's a Shakespeare story exchange happening! on both LJ and DW - I'm pondering it as a possible way to help rejig my story-writing zest. :) I'd have to find four plays (excluding histories) that I'd feel capable of writing a thousand words on, to an unknown prompt, sometime in September. Hhhmmm...
and as mentioned previously, an ongoing salute to International Year of Pulses - this time, courtesy of
asakiyume , Spicy Roasted Chickpeas, a pleasingly spicy snack, involving cayenne pepper and chickpeas. Thank you,
asakiyume ! I snacked on them through the weekend, and ate them all up!
Of interest mostly to australians: the names-on-censuses is an appalling idea. For starters - and only for starters - imagine the feelings of a refugee on being asked for a named record of their religion, living arrangements, gender and sexuality? (There's some guff about the living arrangements question being gender-neutral, but come on - either the census has useable information or it doesn't.)
I rang Nick Xenophon's office this morning to say so, and to support his stand. I didn't say, but also have in mind: sure, sure, about how the government is required by law to protect your privacy. In these unhappy days, what trashing of privacy could not be allowed? - especially in the way of sharing with "friendly" governments - in the name of protection against subversion or attack?
I have always previously been very adamant about the value of censuses (for policy-making, for historical analysis...) but putting names on censuses is a game-changer, and I'm out.
This entry was originally posted at http://heliopausa.dreamwidth.org/57208.html. Please comment here or there.
and later that night culture reigned! in that I continued the Season Eighteen Old Who project,and saw the story titled "Full Circle", with the introduction of the mysterious adric I've seen him in later episodes (notably the one with cricket in a country house mystery) but not till now known the origin of. Good story, with lots of interesting ideas (unexplored,mostly, but still). I loved the Marshmen's first appearance looming up out of the marsh, and enjoyed the (suppressed) debate about the usefulness/ethics of the Noble Lie (since I've not long finished The Just City - and also since all our governments are engaged in precisely that exercise all the time.) That was a bit undercut by there being so much else going on, in the ideas line:
- the different types of knowledge and what do we do with it story
- the what are "we", anyhow? story
- the repeated convulsive, cut off, attempts to write in stories about family/home attachments (oooh! there's a potential pun in there about K-9! But I'll refrain.)
In sum - great to meet adric, but I'd love to have seen the same plot done at length with extra thinking.
There's a Shakespeare story exchange happening! on both LJ and DW - I'm pondering it as a possible way to help rejig my story-writing zest. :) I'd have to find four plays (excluding histories) that I'd feel capable of writing a thousand words on, to an unknown prompt, sometime in September. Hhhmmm...
and as mentioned previously, an ongoing salute to International Year of Pulses - this time, courtesy of
asakiyume , Spicy Roasted Chickpeas, a pleasingly spicy snack, involving cayenne pepper and chickpeas. Thank you,
asakiyume ! I snacked on them through the weekend, and ate them all up!
Of interest mostly to australians: the names-on-censuses is an appalling idea. For starters - and only for starters - imagine the feelings of a refugee on being asked for a named record of their religion, living arrangements, gender and sexuality? (There's some guff about the living arrangements question being gender-neutral, but come on - either the census has useable information or it doesn't.)
I rang Nick Xenophon's office this morning to say so, and to support his stand. I didn't say, but also have in mind: sure, sure, about how the government is required by law to protect your privacy. In these unhappy days, what trashing of privacy could not be allowed? - especially in the way of sharing with "friendly" governments - in the name of protection against subversion or attack?
I have always previously been very adamant about the value of censuses (for policy-making, for historical analysis...) but putting names on censuses is a game-changer, and I'm out.
This entry was originally posted at http://heliopausa.dreamwidth.org/57208.html. Please comment here or there.